Walking aids are important pieces of equipment used to assist individuals with mobility problems. These aids offer support and balance as an individual walks, in addition to helping individuals as they rise from, or lower to, a seated position. Walking aids come in a variety of arrangements depending on the personal ambulatory needs and the severity of the condition, such as an infirmity or a disability. For example, an infirmity affecting one of the limbs, such as a broken leg or ankle, may require the use of a single crutch. However, more serious impediments, such as degenerative conditions affecting both limbs, might require a pair of crutches. There are a variety of crutch types; however, the three main types of crutches generally include Axillary (or underarm) crutches, Forearm (or Lofstrand) crutches, and Platform crutches. Furthermore, there are non-crutch type walking aids such as walkers, which consist of a four-legged framework having handle bars that the individual grips and leans on. This type of walker is frequently in use to attend to the care of those in the geriatric population.
One of the challenges faced by those using a walking aid, of whatever variety, is the difficulty in carrying items with them. Walking aids are not hands-free equipment like wheelchairs. Rather, in use, walking aids require the operator to firmly grip corresponding handle bar portions. In the case of crutches, forward mobility is primarily undertaken by the user's manipulation of the crutches as controlled by the user's upper limbs. Even in the case of a four-legged walker, the user's hands and upper limbs are occupied in managing the movement of the walker. While upright, whether walking or merely standing, the user is constantly gripping the handle bars of the walking aid to sustain support and balance. The hands of the user are therefore unavailable to hold onto and carry any items. In particular, it is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, for a user of a walking aid to carry a beverage bottle. In the case of a beverage contained within an open-topped cup (e.g. a cup of coffee, water, soda, etc.), it would be virtually impossible for the user to prevent the liquid beverage from spilling. This is made even more difficult in the case of crutches, since the crutch shaft is maintained at an angle with respect to the ground. Furthermore, the crutch angle continuously changes as the user walks.
One solution to this problem involves the user carrying a backpack or waist pack loaded with the desired items. For example, typical cargo might include food and beverage items that would be especially important for individuals who face serious mobility impediments and therefore need to be more diligent ensuring that they carry a liquid beverage to stay well hydrated. As a result, particularly from the perspective of maintaining hydration, individuals who use walking aids often have to devise ways to carry a beverage with them—the most obvious solution involving some type of pack carried on the shoulders or about the waist that contains beverage containers. However, from a physical standpoint, considering that the user is already encumbered in some fashion requiting the use of a walking aid, this solution is not very tenable. A pack represents additional weight that is cumbersome to carry, especially in light of the user's halting gait and hunched posture that user's may typically experience. Moreover, even if the user could readily carry some kind of pack, the user still faces the issue of accessing the pack without fully disengaging from the walking aid.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide a mechanism releasably-attachable to a shaft of a walking aid in order to enable the user of the walking aid, and particularly an individual using a crutch or a pair of crutches, to carry a liquid beverage in both the form of a container, such as a bottle, as well as an open-topped cup, without requiring the use of the hands. With regard to an open-topped cup, it would be highly-desirable provide such a mechanism that would maintain the cup in a vertical, or non-tilted, orientation regardless of the angle of the supporting crutch. Since individuals commonly carry both bottle-type beverage containers and open-topped beverage-filled cups, it would be most desirable to provide such a mechanism that is adapted to carry both a bottle-type beverage container and an open-topped beverage cup.